Man Utd's Ferdinand tells Inter: Next goal wins!

"It's so evenly balanced," Ferdinand told ITV. "If we'd nicked a goal in Milan we'd have made it difficult for them in the second leg but it's all to play for now. Whoever scores first in the second leg will probably go through. Fingers crossed that's us."

If United play with as much creativity and cutting-edge as they did in the San Siro, Sir Alex's men have every chance of progressing to the quarter-finals. The Reds dominated first-half proceedings and were unlucky not to go into the break in front.

"Both teams had a couple of chances but I think we were the most creative team on the night," Rio said. "To come to the San Siro and play the way we did against the best team in Italy is testament to us.

"The manager urged us before the game to go out on the front foot and take the game to Inter and that's what we did. We got our foot on the ball in midfield and started passing it around. With the likes of Ronaldo, Giggsy, Ji and Berba we were always going to be a threat and we proved that.

"It was a free-flowing and open game, although obviously we'd be in a better position had we finished one or two of the chances we created."